Everybody Talks
by Karma Sutra
Summary: A Germany x Reader University!AU. You need to find a roommate to help you with your apartment rent and who better for the job than your best friend, Ludwig? However, living together begins to push the boundaries of friendship and you start to develop feelings for your longtime friend even as everyone around you comes to their own conclusions about your relationship.
1. Prologue

"Houston, we have a problem," you announced, kicking open the door of your brother, Alfred Jones's, apartment complex, only a few doors down from your own. The two of you had always been close and living near each other in college, despite his being two years ahead of you, had always been a dream that was realized your sophomore year.

"Houston to Apollo 13, what seems to be the problem?" he responded automatically as he slaughtered zombies on his Xbox, decked out in his favorite red "gamer hoodie". His roommate, Gilbert Beilschmidt, was perched beside him on the couch, biting his tongue in concentration while armed with his own controller, the hood to his black jacket pulled up over his head to reveal the Prussian eagle graphic on the back.

"Watch out, they're starting to horde," he warned bringing his own character to back up Alfred's, having given up on barricading the room.

"Already ahead of you, dude," the latter responded, having received a weapon upgrade only moments before. An explosion colored the screen and the corpses of fascist zombies littered the screen.

"Will you two pay attention for one minute?" you demanded, exasperated and ticked. Their attention was still divided and so you took the opened envelope that you had brought with you and slammed it onto the coffee table in front of the two boys with such force that the resounding _slap_ caused Alfred to jump.

"I'm getting evicted."

Alfred paused the game immediately and abandoned his controller to the table in favor of the letter from your landlord.

"Whoa, seriously?!"

"The fuck?" Gilbert added, tossing his hood back and reaching over Alfred in an attempt to grab the notice. Alfred easily evaded the albino with his elbows while he read the printed letter.

"Yeah, seriously," you sighed, slumping down onto the couch with them. "My part time's just not doing it. I can't keep up with rent, and Kirkland's not buying my excuses anymore. He really means it this time."

Gilbert scoffed and finally snatched the paper from Alfred's hands. "Let the awesome me talk to him, I'll set his ass straight," he boasted, scanning the notice for loopholes. Unfortunately, "You have two weeks to either pay up or get out," was rather impenetrable and not exactly open to interpretation.

"Don't worry, little sis," your brother ruffled your hair affectionately. "I'll find a way to fix this. I am the hero after all."

"How?" you moaned, leaning against him in defeat. "I can't keep up with classes_ and _increased hours at work and you can't afford to cover both our rents at the same time. I'm seriously stuck right now!" You groaned again to accentuate the hopelessness of the situation.

"Why don't you just get a roommate?" Gilbert offered. "I know you've gotten used to living alone, but if you can't afford full rent then splitting the cost with someone else might be your best bet. Last I heard, Ludwig was still looking for a place. You two are still close and shit, right?"

You had known the Prussian man for quite a while. He was arrogant, obnoxious, obtuse, narcissistic, and at that moment the single most brilliant man in all of existence. You pecked him on the cheek, hugged his neck, and thanked him before running out and slamming the door behind you.

Gilbert blinked, slightly surprised at your outburst of grateful affection. "Dude..."

Alfred picked up his controller and unpaused the game. "That's my sister, I don't want to hear it. You may be my best friend and all, but I can and will smash your skull in."

"Ew, that's not even funny dude. That'd feel way too much like incest. I'm talking about her and Ludwig. They could really hit it off," he rapidly pressed buttons as a zombie attacked him from behind. The loser didn't have a chance against the awesome Gilbert, though, and it was soon hacked to pieces.

"Who?"

The albino rolled his eyes. "Ludwig and _! Think about it, living together might be the push my not-so-awesome bruder needs to finally make a move on her."

"You really think it's that big of a deal? They've known each other since they were, like, five and haven't ever taken an interest in the other. I don't think this'll change much. That and he hasn't even said yes yet."

"Oh, he's going to say ja. I can already tell. Think of how awesome it'll be when they get married. We'll be actual brothers."

"Duuuude," Alfred concurred as the television screen was colored red when the horde proved too much for the hero to handle. "Damn... you game for round two?"

"Sure, why not?"

"And that's why you have to live with me!" you announced in the same heroic voice that

seemed to work so well for your brother. Your longtime best friend and Gilbert's little brother, Ludwig, was by no means charmed.

"...Nein."

The two of you were sitting in Gilbert's two friends, Francis and Antonio's, dorm room where the German had been crashing for the past two weeks since his own dorm mate skipped town with his fifteen cats. Ludwig didn't really miss the man, he'd always ended up paying for his meals and expenses anyway and the excess of felines had become a real problem, but he did miss having his own space separate from the perverts he was now bunking with.

"Luddy!" you whined, draping yourself across his lap while he blushed at the sudden contact. "This is the perfect opportunity to get a bitchin' apartment and live with your best friend AT THE SAME TIME. Why do you insist on being difficult?"

"Because, _, you're a fraulein! It's inappropriate..."

You sat up, resisting the urge to chuckle at his chaste response. You were well aware of his 'collection' underneath his bed and no amount of awkward blushing could fool you.

"Seriously? We used to sleep in the same bed together all of the time when we were little!" You smiled fondly at the memory; the two of you really had been friends for quite a while.

"Ja, but that was a long time ago. Now if we end up sharing a place people will talk badly about you."

Ah, so that was it. Ludwig, the ever protective wingman, was concerned about rumors.

"Ludwig, everybody talks. It's not that big of a deal. Even Gilbert thought it was a good idea! Besides, can you imagine how much fun it'll be to live together? It'll be like a super extended sleepover! And once Alfred graduates I don't know what I'm going to do. It'll be nice having you so close."

That did it. Ludwig couldn't bear to see you sad and he knew how close you were to your brother. That, and he actually kind of liked the idea of sharing an apartment with his best friend.

"Fine," he finally conceded, running his hand through his neatly slicked hair. You squealed in excitement and hugged his neck while he scoffed and shook his head.

"But you can't know you're going to have to actually clean up after yourself, including laundry."

"This is a sweet moment, Ludwig. Don't ruin the sweet moment."

He smiled and ruffled your hair, hoping that this decision wasn't a bad one.

**A/N: Another request courtesy of Vulcanblood! This time she requested a Germany x Reader with college student/friendship theme. I hope she doesn't mind that I twisted the plot a bit to fit my recent roommate fetish ^^ Germany's a bit OOC in this chapter, but he's going to back into character next chapter. I was just trying to set the scene ^^**

**Also notice that this is named after the Neon Trees song. It was not originally inspired, based, or ever even connected with that song, but the idea struck me when I was trying to come up with a reason for Ludwig's resistance. Because of it, I'm going to have other characters analyse the relationship as it blossoms, kind of like how Prussia and America were. I hope y'all enjoy!**


	2. It Started With A Whisper

Romano grabbed his keys and checked to make sure that his phone was in his front pocket. Satisfied, he made his way to the door only to have two tanned arms loop around his waist and pull him back.

"Bastardo! What are you doing?" He tugged his Spanish boyfriend's arms in vain, the grip only growing tighter. Antonio nuzzled Romano's neck and finally released him only after a string of curses.

"Giving you your goodbye hug, Roma! I won't be home until late, and so I thought I'd miss my little tomato~"

The Italian brushed himself off and turned to glare at his lover/friend/boyfriend. "Why aren't you going to be back?" Although Antonio technically shared a dorm with Francis and, as of late, Ludwig, he quite often slept over at the apartment Romano and his brother, Feliciano, rented out.

"Haven't you heard? Ludwig's moving into _'s apartment! I offered to help him move after my classes."

Oh_ this _was certainly interesting.

"Really? Why?" Romano asked nonchalantly. He was totally not a gossiper. Not at all. He was just curious. Yeah, that was it.

Antonio's eyebrows furrowed as he thought about the situation for a moment. He really had no idea why Ludwig would want to leave, now that he actually stopped to think about it. He and Francis were excellent roommates and Antonio even brought the uptight German tomatoes from the community garden almost daily! That and large amounts of smuggled wine and tequila, of which he and Francis readily partook in with or without the German. No, it certainly couldn't have been the company that had driven Ludwig into leaving.

As the Spaniard analyzed Ludwig's departure he absentmindedly stroked and poked his lover's cheek, to the point where the dirty mouthed Italian was sputtering insults and curses without pause for breath. His little tomate was so cute! If only he could live with him... That was it!

"Oi! Our amigo, Ludwig, must be en amor! With _!"

"Really?!" The Italian shed all irritation at his cheek being violated with this new conclusion. "So are they dating?"

"No..." Antonio was almost sure he would know if such a thing happened to occur. He was best friends with the younger boy's brother. Another hypothesis presented itself. "Ludwig and _ must be secretly seeing each other! And this is just a clever disguise so that they can be closer!"

At this point in time it just so happened that a particular Frenchman was partaking in the walk of shame back to his dorm room. He also just so happened to have given his key to his useless roommate before going out drinking the night before, forcing him to take a detour to the apartments just outside of campus, where he JUST SO HAPPENED to overhear a conversation through the paper thin walls. Thoroughly pleased with himself, and deciding against going immediately back to his room, Francis Bonnefoy whistled as he ambled to the canteen where he was certain he'd find a friend of his during the breakfast rush. But he of course had something much more delicious to share than pancakes.

"Finished!" you announced, wiping the sweat off your brow with a rag. You had just finished cleaning your apartment from bathroom to foyer, Ludwig style, in preparation for your new roommate. As you had labored, the boys (consisting of Antonio, Ludwig, Gilbert, and Alfred) were hauling in Ludwig's things via neatly packaged cardboard boxes. It wasn't a lot, dorm life doesn't really allow for many amenities, but the two of you had gone shopping for furniture earlier in the day so that his room wouldn't look so bare. Gilbert had been in charge of assembling aforementioned furniture but he had promptly given up so you and Ludwig managed it by yourselves while the idiotic albino helped the other three. Setting it all up had taken forever and then you had started cleaning amidst the unpacking of the boxes.

Eventually the last box was carried in and emptied and you celebrated by serving everyone a healthy college meal consisting of ramen, cheetos, Coca Cola, and smuggled beer.

"You need more wurst in your diet," Ludwig commented, tipping back the last of what must have been is third or fourth can of beer. You laughed, slightly tipsy yourself, and proposed, "I guess you'll have to fix that then, right Luddy?" He blushed slightly at the innuendo, but you punched him in the arm casually.

"Kidding, kidding!" you promised, handing him another can. "But seriously, if you're offering to cook I'm so game."

Antonio watched the two of you as inconspicuously as he could manage, a smirk playing on his lips the entire time. Every action the two of you made, every shared snarky comment, only furthered in belief that this was indeed a romantic relationship. Although they were doing an awful job of hiding it; he might have to take them aside later and explain how to properly rendezvous with one's lover. Which brought the sudden question, were they behaving properly? Did they know how to act as lovers did? Were they protected?

No, Antonio decided, they very likely may not be. They were both still young and needed guidance on these things! Guidance he wasn't willing to give. He would have to talk to Alfred and Gilbert and leave it to those two to help the young couple along.

**A/N: A short chapter to tide y'all over. Because this one reflected more of how the rumors are going to start/go the next one will be filled with you and Ludwig fluff. Remember: I love reviews almost as much as I love Ludwig, so please give as many as you want! And I also take requests for reader inserts and just regular fanfics. **


End file.
